Probabilities of Large Earthquakes Occurring in California on the San Andreas Fault

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROBABILITIES OF LARGE EARTHQUAKES OCCURRING IN CALIFORNIA ON THE SAN ANDREAS FAULT by The Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities Open-File Report 88-398 This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey editorial standards and stratigraphic nomenclature. Any use of trade names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the USGS. MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA 1988 PREFACE In late 1984, the National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council (NEPEC) agreed to meet several times per year to systematically review and synthesize data from areas in the United States considered to be most critical from an earthquake prediction standpoint. On May 9, 1986, NEPEC informed the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey that, as a result of several review meetings devoted to California and Alaska, it had identified 13 sub are as on the San Andreas, San Jacinto and Hay ward faults of California and two areas in Alaska for which opportunities existed to make significant progress in earthquake prediction during the next decade. Lynn R. Sykes, the chairman of NEPEC, briefed the subcommittee on earthquake studies that is advisory to the USGS and Frank Press, the President of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, on those findings. It was suggested as a further step that NEPEC review a published statement from the early 1980's that there was a 50 percent chance of a large and damaging earthquake in southern California during the subsequent 30 years. However, because that statement was not well-documented and new data on prehistoric earthquakes and slip-rates are now available for several places in California, Sykes recommended to the USGS that a working group be constituted to review the likelihood of a large earthquake in southern California. On March 30, 1987, Dallas L. Peck, the Director of USGS, wrote to NEPEC specifically charging it to evaluate the earthquake threat to southern California and to assess the likelihood of a great earthquake in southern California during the next few decades. At its meeting on April 2, 1987, NEPEC recommended that such a working group be constituted and report its findings to NEPEC. Because there also was a concern about the Hayward fault on the east side of San Francisco Bay, the working group was charged with evaluating the earthquake threat to the greater San Francisco Bay area as well. A draft of this report of the Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities was approved in principle by NEPEC on February 2, 1988, and was revised following suggestions made at that meeting. As new data are continually being gathered relevant to long-term forecasts for specific segments of major faults in California, it is expected that the conclusions of this document will need to be revised and updated every few years. a- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The report was improved considerably by the thorough and careful editing of Janet L. Cluff. Thelma Rodriguez, Nancy Arp and Beverly Monroe provided assistance in helping with arrangements for the meetings of the Working Group and in preparing the report. Ray Buland is thanked for conversations and advice on method of the probability calculations. William Bakun provided technical review of the manuscript. TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................ 1 INTRODUCTION ............................ 5 METHOD AND INPUT PARAMETERS ................ 9 Method ................................ 9 Input Parameters ............................ 11 RESULTS OF PROBABILITY CALCULATIONS ............ 17 Faults of the Northern San Andreas Fault System .............. 23 Northern San Andreas Fault ...................... 24 North Coast Segment ........................ 24 San Francisco Peninsula Segment ................... 25 Southern Santa Cruz Mountains Segment ............... 27 Hayward Fault ............................ 27 Northern and Southern East Bay Segments .............. 28 Other Faults of the Northern San Andreas Fault System .......... 28 Calaveras Fault .......................... 28 North Bay Faults .......................... 29 Faults of the Southern San Andreas Fault System .............. 30 Central and Southern San Andreas Fault ................. 30 Central Creeping Segment ...................... 32 Parkfield Segment ......................... 33 Cholame Segment ......................... 33 Carrizo Segment .......................... 34 Mojave Segment .......................... 35 San Bernardino Mountains Segment ................. 39 Coachella Valley Segment ...................... 39 San Jacinto Fault ........................... 40 San Bernardino Valley Segment ................... 42 San Jacinto Valley Segment ..................... 44 Anza Segment ........................... 45 Borrego Mountain Segment ..................... 45 Superstition Segment ........................ 46 Imperial Fault ............................ 46 Other Faults of the Southern San Andreas Fault System .......... 47 Brawley Fault and Brawley Seismic Zone ............... 47 Elsinore Fault ........................... 47 DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY ..................... 49 REFERENCES .............................. 53 APPENDIX ............................... 59 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Because of increased public interest and concern about expected losses from future earthquakes in California, the National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council recom mended that the probability of occurrence of large (magnitude 7 or greater) earthquakes in California be evaluated. In response to this recommendation, the U.S. Geological Survey formed the Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities. The Working Group met several times during the summer and fall of 1987 and winter of 1988 to review and assess the state of knowledge that would allow calculation of earthquake probabilities on specific fault segments. The scope of the evaluation was limited to assessing the probabilities for large earthquakes resulting from slip on the major faults of the San Andreas fault system. The evaluations were based on a probability model that assumes increase of probability with elapsed time since the previous major earthquake on the fault segment. To determine time-dependent probabilities, the faults were divided into their recognizable segments, and the potential for a future large earthquake on that segment was calculated based on the time that has elapsed since the most recent large earthquake, and fault parameters such as slip rate and amount of displacement. Although there are numerous other active faults in California, almost all capable of moderate earthquakes between magnitudes 6 and 7 and some capable of producing large earthquakes, the Working Group concluded that, at this time, there are insufficient data for application of the methods of time-dependent probability calculations for these faults. Estimating future earthquake occurrence for the other recognized active faults is best approached by long-term seismic potential models that do not take into account the length of time since the previous earthquake and assume the hazard remains constant with time. Individually, these faults present a lesser threat than do the major faults of the San Andreas system, because their long-term slip rates, historical rates of earthquake occurrence, and size of earthquakes are less than those for the San Andreas. However, because these faults are not considered in our analysis, the probabilities computed for each region of California should be considered minimum values. A report by the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA, 1980] stated that a major earthquake in southern California, comparable to the great earthquake of 1857, has a probability greater than 0.5 in the next 30 years. The Working Group found that the earthquake hazard on the southern San Andreas fault is at least as high as that reported by FEMA. In addition, the Working Group concluded that somewhat smaller events, of magnitude 7 to 7 1/2, are of concern in southern California and in the San Francisco Bay area. Such events occurring near population centers could pose severe hazards, as discussed in the FEMA report. The time interval chosen for the probability calculations was 30 years, 1988 to 2018, although similar calculations using the same models were performed for 5-year, 10-year, and 20-year intervals, as well. To distinguish fault segment models based on relatively good data from those based on poor or incomplete data, each segment was given a level of reliability rating from A to E, with A being most reliable. The results of the Working Group's evaluations, judgments, analyses, and assessments are summarized on the following figure. Within a region containing more than one fault segment, the total probability of the occurrence of at least one large earthquake is, for many applications, of greater interest than the probabilities for individual segments. The results of aggregating the individual probability values to forecast the probability of a large earthquake in three regions is summarized on the following table. Probability of One or More Large Earthquakes on Faults of the San Andreas Fault System Geographic Region Expected Probability for Intervals or Fault Magnitude Beginning 1/1/88 5 yr 10 yr 20 yr 30 yr San Francisco Bay Area 7 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.5 Southern San Andreas Fault 71/2-8 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.6 San Jacinto Fault 61/2-7 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.5 The 30-year probability of large earthquakes is highest in southern California. We have identified

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